Surgical pads



Dec. 9, 1969 M. L. RAFFAELLI, SR

SURGICAL PADS Filed March 15. 1967 2 Sheets--Sheet l INVENTOR. M40 1. 4FFA4 5e.

Dec. 9. 1969 M. L. RAFFAELLI, SR 3,482,569

SURGICAL PADS Filed March 15, 1967 INVENTOR. M40 L IeAFFAELLI,

BY ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,482,569 SURGICAL PADS Milo L. Rafiaelli, Sr., Chicago, 111., assignor to The Scholl Mfg. Co., Inc. Chicago, 111., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 623,319 Int. Cl. A61f 13/06, /30

U.S. Cl. 128-153 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention or discovery relates to surgical pads of the type that act as a shield over an affiiction on a digit such as a toe or finger. Each pad is stretchable, is in the form of a loop, and is held upon the digit by virtue of its own elasticity.

Description of the prior art The instant invention is an improvement upon the structure set forth in Milton R. Levitt U.S. Letters Patent No. 3,209,750 issued Oct. 5, 1965. The pad shown in this patent is die stamped out of a sheet of stock material. All edges of the pad are square cut the full thickness of the material, and this is doubled where the two body parts are superposed and secured together, leaving abrupt straight edges all around the pad. Thus, considerable difficulty was experienced in drawing on and removing stockings or gloves over the :pad without causing a misplacement of the pad from its proper position. Also, with square cut edges pressure from clothing is abrupt and some irritation could be caused by virtue of the square cut edges around the particular affliction being relieved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The pads embodied in the instant invention are of the same general contour as those shown in the aforesaid patent. However, electronic heat sealing dies are used to form the blank of the pad from the stock material and no square cut edges remain anywhere in the blank. At judicious locations flat spots are caused in the blank which taper in thickness, decreasing toward the front end of the pad leaving very fine forward edges on the superposed body parts of the pad. The material used also has a smooth surface against which there is little friction from hosiery, gloves, and similar apparel. Consequently such apparel may be easily put on and taken off with the pad remaining in place and with no danger of misplacing the pad during the process. It will therefore be apparent that the instant invention solved the problem previously existent in the prior art, and the pad of this invention could not be made in the .manner set forth in the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the production of the blank of the pad with the use of electronic heat sealing die means;

3,482,569 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line II-II of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the finished pad blank;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line IV-IV of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the pad in operative position upon the foot of a user;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of the finished pad diagrammatically indicating how the pad fits over a hammer toe;

- FIGURE 7 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the pad only taken substantially as indicated by the line VIIVII of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line VIIIVIII of FIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 9 is a bottom plan view of a pad blank of somewhat different contour, but also embodying principles of the instant invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGURES 1 and 2 I have illustrated how the blank pads of the instant invention are formed. A stock sheet 1 of indefinite size from which a number of blanks .may be made is provided. This sheet may be made of any of the materials mentioned in the aforesaid patent, but is preferably a laminate comprising a lower layer 2, FIG- URE 2, of foam cushioning material embodying a urethane foam impregnated with a vinyl which is easily electronically heat sealed and which has great restorative powers when pressure is removed from it. Bonded t0 the upper face of the foam layer is a top cover 3 which is preferably expanded vinyl, this material having a pleasing grained appearance, being tough and durable, and its outer surface is quite smooth.

In forming the pad blanks, a known form of press is utilized which is equipped with electronic heat sealing means. The press, not shown in the drawings, includes a conductive lower die in the form of a fiat plate, usually covered by a relatively thin buffer of dielectric material, and a conductive upper die 4 which is pressed into the stock sheet I laid over the buffer on the lower die. The upper die is pressed into the stock sheet to the position shown in FIGURE 2, and a charge of ultrahigh frequency current is passed through the upper die into the lower die to establish both a heat and tear seal seam permitting the finished article to be readily removed from the excess stock.

The die is provided with a bounding knife edge 5 and suitable intermediate knife edge arrangements, as indicated at 6 to ultimately provide apertures in the resultant blank. In two places the die is builtup inside the bounding knife edge 5 as indicated at 7 in FIGURE 2 to establish a flat spot 8 in the finished blank which gradually decreases in thickness toward the bounding edge of the blank. Each of the heat seal seams is a heat and tear seal seam, and when the die is raised a blank generally indicated by numeral 9 remains in the stock sheet 1. The blank is then removed from the stock sheet leaving an aperture 10 therein and various internal pieces of the stock sheet are pressed out from within fine line heat seal seams 11, 12, 13 and 14 to provide a pair of circular apertures'in the blank defined by the seams 11 and 14, and a pair of opposed triangular apertures defined by the seams 12 and 13, the contour of the entire blank being defined by a fine line heat seal edge 15.

The resultant blank, best seen in FIGURE 3, has a pair of like body parts 16 and 17, one at each end of the blank. The body parts are connected by an X-formation including arms 18 and 19 converging away from the body part 16, arms 20 and 21 converging away from the body part 17, and an integral web 22 where all the arms meet in the central region of the blank.

The formation of the blank 9 by means of a heat sealing die eliminates all square cut edges and leaves a fine line heat seal seam on every exposed edge of the blank. As seen best in FIGURE 4, the arms 18 and 19 are not of equal thickness throughout, but have more the shape of the upper half of an oval. The same is true with the arms 20 and 21, and the same shape will occur in the blank between the bounding edge and the circles defined by the seams 11 and 14. The entire bounding edge of the blank will also be a fine line heat seal seam with a gentle upward and inward curvature therefrom except in the region of the flat spots 88.

After the blank has been provided, it is folded into a loop with the two body parts 16 and 17 superposed and these are secured together in face-to-face relationship by a suitable adhesive or in any other satisfactory manner. When in this position, the apertures defined by the seams 11 and 14 coincide to conjointly provide an afiliction receiving opening 23, while the flat spots 8-8 coincide to provide a gently sloping but sharp pointed nose 24 on the leading edge of the blank body.

In FIGURE I have illustrated the pad in position over the second toe of a human foot 24 and it will be noted that the sharp front edge portion 24 of the blank intimately hugs the toe. Looking at FIGURE 6 where the toe 25 is shown in dotted lines as a hammer toe, it will be seen that the portion 24 snugly fits against the top of the distal phalanx of the toe while the X-forrnation is so located that the web 22 thereof is within the sulcus of the toe. The pad is sufiiciently stretchable to easily place the same over a digit and remains in place by its inherent elasticity when it contracts against the toe. Assuming that there is a painful corn at the top of the misshapen toe joint, it will be received within the afiiiction receiving opening 23 and is relieved of irritation and pressure from wearing apparel. It will be a particularly noted that with the pad constructed in this manner stockings or gloves may be freely moved over the pad in either direction, even when carelessly handled, without catching and without dislodging the pad from its proper position.

In FIGURE 9 I have shown a slightly different form of pad having the same bodies 16 and 17 connected by the same X-formation as the pad above described. In this instance, however, the bounding heat seal seam 15a is deviated from one side of the web 22 to provide a lateral projection 26 which will underlie the tip of a hammer toe, if such is deemed necessary and the outer end of this projection may be provided with a flat spot 8a the same as the flat spots 88 so an article of apparel will not catch the pad underneath the toe.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be eifected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A digit encircling surgical pad having a pair of body portions superposed and secured together and connected by an X-formation, wherein the improvement comprises,

a flattened spot in the forward portion of each body portion to provide a thin nose on the pad over which apparel may freely slide,

said pad having a fine line bounding edge and said flattened spots decrease in thickness toward the forward fine line bounding edge of said body portions.

2. The surgical pad of claim 1, wherein the material of said pad is electronically heat scalable,

and said flat spots are heat sealed in the material.

3. The surgical pad of claim 1, wherein the material of said pad is electronically heat sealable, and including a lateral extension from the web of said X-formation to underlie a hammer toe, and a heat sealed flattened spot on the outer end of said extension to reduce the thickness of the material of the pad and permit apparel to freely slide over the extension.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,209,750 10/1965 Levitt 128153 3,253,591 5/1966 Scholl 128153 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 128-157 

